The present application relates to the field of data processing. More particularly, the invention relates to handling interrupts in a data processing apparatus having multiple processors.
In a data processing apparatus, interrupt requests are used to signal to a processor that it should interrupt its current processing and execute an interrupt handling routine. For example, interrupts may be used to signal errors or to notify the processor of an event occurring at a peripheral device. In a multi-processor system, it is often desirable for only one processor to actually service an interrupt request, even if more than one processor could service the interrupt request. The present technique seeks to improve the way in which one of multiple available processors is selected for handling an interrupt request.